The first half of the race was pretty smooth for me and allowed everyone else to grind up their cars a bit fighting for second place. That, of course, is the privilege of jumping in front of the pack.

But the chickens do come home to roost; eventually, the people who didn't sell off car parts to bribe the officials for pole position do catch up, and then the race is on.

I definitely made one bad decision and one questionable one; both times racing more conservatively than I should have. C'est la vie; you makes your choices, and you lives with 'em.

Then there were the many times where I made bad choices out of ignorance; I had raced for so many decades under the Avalon Hill rules that some things were simply habitual, but which did not work the same way under these modified rules; and there were new options available due to some of these changes, which I had not considered until noticed my lunch was missing, taken by cars as they were passing me.

And one thing happened here that I have no recollection of having happened to me in Speed Circuit ever -- I actually missed an opportunity because I failed to imagine an inspired solution with the information available in front of me. I don't know if it's age, newness of the rules, despondance at the grumpy responses I was getting to the few rules questions I asked, or -- dare I suggest it -- perhaps simply a personal failing. But I just flat didn't see it until after the turn had processed.

However, I was able to make up for these failings with carefully chosen dice, and the luck Gods prevailed. I hate winning on dice; but in real life, I suppose some chances are taken to compensate for what the car cannot natively give.

I am glad I was invited in to run with you folks, and look forward to continuing. This race taught me a lot about the new rules, the group, and a few other choice things I'll keep closer to my chest than normal.

It's been a privilege racing with you, and I am looking forward to Istanbul.

For me, I don't have a lot to say post-race except that I really appreciate how patient you all were with a newbie like me at the helm. I have learned a ton both about running a game but also on how to play, which was part of the idea. I'd like to think that it helped inform my play in the Grand Prix race, leading to a 2nd place finish vs a 7th and 5th place in the other two races.

Many of you were very open and talkative in your plots, something I appreciate both as a Speed Circuit RM but also a Diplomacy GM, because I do the same. A special call out to Jim, John, and Rando as the most talkative ones - all with very different perspectives.

If anyone else would like to take a stab at running a race, Mike has stated many times that you're welcome to host it here, and I'll share the tips I picked up, what worked for me and what didn't. Perhaps someone would like to run a race using Doug's rewritten CFR rules with the optional pitting added? Or whatever, really. I think we could guarantee a good response. :)

First let me say thanks to Kal and congratulate Steve. The rabbit startegy worked, buddy. Our Pirelli Tires, Midas Mufflers, Chevron, Quaker State, U.P.S., Tide Detergent, C.S.X., Boeing, Dell Computers, Best Buy, Dial Soap, Wendy's, HD Quikprint, Right Guard, Crest, Pizza Hut, Mustang Ranch, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, USA Today, Alice's Restaurant, Home Depot, L'Eggs, Geico, Safelite, KIA ran well today. I used a bit more of the tires a little earlier than I planned going back and forth with Meng, I hope he's ok, and then by time I decided to put it all out there the leaders were out of range. (We might have been a little heavy from all the sponsor decals too) I missed a few opportunities on lap 2 and probably could have played a little more defense after the Josh/Giovanni spin. Overall I think the 140 TS was more of a handicap than I expected, but we'll take 7th and move on to Turkey. Oops, forgot to mention Butterball.